More than 50 years of United States military presence in Bermuda ended yesterday with all the pageantry and precision befitting the occasion.

At precisely 10.59 a.m. the United States flag was ceremoniously lowered over the US Naval Air Station as a lone trumpeter played "Taps''.

The folded flag was then handed to base Commanding officer Capt. Timothy Bryan before an assembled gathering of base personnel and local dignitaries.

Inside the spacious Marine Patrol Aircraft hangar which encompasses 100,000 square feet, Capt. Bryan addressed the audience from a platform trimmed with red, white and blue cloth.

Behind him hung an impressive American flag that was 20 feet wide by 30 feet long.

He said: "While this is a sad day for all of us, it is foremost a proud day.

For we must remember why this base came into being to appreciate why its existence is no longer necessary (and) why we and those before us who stood the watch, today stand relieved.'' Capt. Bryan said it was important to grasp the historical circumstances of the world during the late 1930s to understand why it was necessary for the base to be commissioned in Bermuda on April 7, 1941.

At that time Nazi Germany was determined to conquer and rule Europe and there was every reason to believe they would be successful.

As nations fell under German control, countries in the Atlantic were worried about the Nazi threat.

Consequently, the Allied nations were forced to unite to destroy the threat Germany posed to democracy. They deployed armies, stockpiled weapons and constructed tanks and airplanes.

Bermuda was important to the successful flow of soldiers and material to Europe.

"Last month we celebrated the Allied commitment to freedom which culminated in the surrender of Nazi Germany 50 years ago,'' Capt. Bryan continued. "It was indeed a bright day for democracy. Victory and peace were last at hand.'' For the next four decades, Bermuda played an integral role in United States' foreign policy which was aimed at containing communism and deterring a nuclear exchange. This period was known as the Cold War.

Bermuda, through the US Naval base, assisted the Americans in anti-submarine warfare, refuelling of military aircraft and radar surveillance.

American Consul General Mr. Robert Farmer, meanwhile, said the demise of the former Soviet Union had ushered in a new era for United States foreign policy because there no longer was a clearly defined enemy.

As a result, the post Cold War era was one where the United States was "feeling its way'' along.

Its military system has now become outmoded, he said, because it was geared toward a Russian threat that no longer exists. However, the closure of the US Navy base was part of the wholesale changes required in the new post Cold War world.

Mr. Farmer said that in 1941 the United States received 700 acres from Bermuda. On September 1, 1995 the American Government will be turning over more than 1,300 acres to Bermuda.

The US Naval Air Station will remain open until August 31, 1995 with a skeleton staff.

Capt. Bryan, who assumed command of the US Naval station in 1993 said: "Peace at least in the Atlantic, is at hand. No submarines, ships or aircraft threaten our trade and prosperity. Nor are any clearly perceived to be just over the horizon.

"It is not the sound of military patrols or bombers or refuelling or transport aircraft which we hear launching from these runways any longer.

"It is simply ... the sound of international commerce, precisely what we fought and worked to secure these past decades.

"We are ceremoniously relieved of a 54-year watch.''